Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Jars of Glass
submitted by student -- The book Jars of Glass by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler is a heartbreaking story about a family that has had their lives turned upside down. The mother is insane and has been hospitalized and it is up to the daughters, Chloe and Shana, to keep the family together. If you were in this situation how w0uld you feel? How would you try to "fix" your family?
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If i was in this situation i would feel heart broken and depressed. i think everyone would feel the same way expecially if your mom is insane. But what i would try to do is to act like there's nothing wrong. i would keep my head high and make sure my family won't be messed up or anything like that. i would make sure we would all still be one happy family.
If i was in this situation i would be very depressed. I cant imagine what it is like to have your mom in life one day and then have her hospitalized and out of your life. It would also be very hard for me to try and keep my family together because i would be so heartbroken about the situation. When i read "Jars of Glass" Chloe was able to keep it together and take care of her little brother. I dont think i would be able to be as strong as Chloe was. To try and fix my family i would just make sure that we didnt let the situation tear us apart so were not close anymore because thats the last thing that i would want. I would make my family talk about our problems and how we feel about our mom instead of keeping it bottled up inside like Shana and Chloe did in the book. I think thats the only thing i could do to keep my family together in a situation like this.
I agree with Kathleen. I would feel heart broken and depressed too. I would do everything i could to help support my family though. When you are thrown into that kind of situation obviously anyone would feel extremely horrible, but if i wanted to do what was best for my health and my family i would have to put my feelings aside and focus on my family issues. I guess there is no real way to fix my family if we were in that situation but i would surely do my best to make everyone feel comfortable.
If I was in this situation I would feel horrible, and heart broken too. I would do what I could to help. I'd have to work really hard, and it would take a lot of effort. I also agree with Julia, because there is no way to really fix your family; fate isn't something you can control. All you can do is try, which is what I'm guessing the girls in the story are doing. It's a sad thing, but of course you can only help. Obvioulsy if it's your family too.
If i were in a situation like this i would feel upset and i would feel like i have nothing at all. My mother means so much to me and i would hate to see her stuffer as well as my family. I would try my best to help out as much as i can like doing things by doing things my mother would normaly do. No, i wouldnt like doing this all the time but i would have people to help my like my dad, brother, and other family member that are willing to help out.
I would try to bring everyone together. I know that when my brother got sick alot of his friends and alot of our family came to visit him in the hospital. I know that if a family is sucure it works better. They can work together on how they are going to fix the family buy getting money and helping the girls survive with out their parents.
if i were in this situation i would be extremely sad and depressed. like kathleen said i would just pretend nothing is wrong and try to keep the family together and ignore it.
If I were either Chloe of Shana I would feel terrified. A kid keeping the family together? That's a lot to put on anyone's shoulders, but a teenager's is a lot more insane (pardon the pun). I would also feel frightened because my mother just went insane. If it happens to anyone it's scary and depressing, but when it happens to family, especially a mother, the one who most kids really look to for help, it has to be at least ten times worse. To fix the family, I'm not sure what there would be to do. I guess I would try to hold everyone together and remind them that the world isn't over, even if it seems like it. I would also try to get everyone to come to terms with the mother's insanity. I wouldn't sugar coat it, (unless there were young kids) I would give them the truth because they deserve it. Then, I would help them get over it and put it behind them; except that it's in the past and ther's nothing they can do to change it, so they might as well move on with their lives and eventually they would get used to it.
First i'd like to say that I really enjoyed reading the book. If I was in this situation I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Id feel horible and upset for my mom. I would probably act like the new mom in the family and try to fix us up. I would also try to be the positive one in the family, i'd cheer everyone up before we break down. Also, i would go to visit my mom sometimes so she'd know that we are ok and support her through it all.
Like Kitty said, it is ALOT to put on a teenager's shoulders. Now, not only do you have to worry about everything that comes with being a teen, but also the fact that your mother has just gone insane. She would be the one to go to for help. If i was in this situation, I would be really upset and terrified. The fate of my family would depend on me. To fix this poblem, i guess I would try to help them think in positive terms. I would remind my mother that she can change her future, and the worst would be over soon.
I agree with Jewlz. I feel teenagers are going through alot these days, and putting all of the stress of keeping a family together on top of it would be very stressful. If i were in this situation i would be very upset, and would want to do anything to get everything back to normal. Honestly i dont know what i would do if my family fell appart, but i feel so lucky that I have a family that loves me, when I know that other people arn't as lucky as I am.
i would be really scared because chloe and shana are kids and they probaly dont have alot of experience with dealing with there whole family so i agree with kathleen because i think that i would feel heartbroken and depressed but i wouldnt aggree with her because i wouldnt want to act like nothings wrong because then your almost denying the fact that your family has issues. Its not up to you to fix them though...you can help but i dont think that a girl could fix the fact that her mother is insane.
I don't agree with BellaG!.I would make fixing my family my priority. I would do that by acting unaffected. I know myself well enough to say that, although it would be sad, life goes on and I would go along with it. And doesn't everyone go through denial? Almost everyone is in denial at least few times a week, it's natural to pretend everything is okay, and to push away bad thoughts to try and mend yourself. Even though I would be breaking on the inside, on the outside I would look normal. To everyone else, nothing would have happened. To me, a hurricane would have hit and destroyed everything but hope in it's past.
If I were in the same situation, I'd be stressed of course, trying to keep a broken family together is hard. I had to go through the same thing when an occurrence happened in the family that kind of made us split a little. But at least I had my mom, but with the girls, they have no one so if I hadn't had my mom to help, I'd probably be sad a lot, knowing in any moment anything can end and it could all be in ruins. But I'd do what AmandaG said, I'd make it a priority since they are family and you have to try and keep family together. So I'd probably try to do everything in my power and just believe that it will end and everything will be fine.
If i were in this situation i would do everything in my power to help my mom. that would be my ultimet goal, get my mom out of the hospital. i would try to talk with the doctor and tell him to let my om out. i even would consider bribing him. after all, thats what family does for eachother
If I were in this situation I would try to console my fellow family members by letting them know there is someone there for them in this time of sorrow. It is very important to feel love and compation when it feels like your losing someone.
I would feel overwhelmed in that situation. If my mom was insane and everyone else in my family was braking apart I probably wouldn't be able to deal with anything else while I trying to bring my family back together. I would try to persuade my family to stay together. I would tell them that mom will get better and we will all be happy again, even if it's not true.
Foe me, I think my reaction would be based on what brand of insane we're talking about. I mean, if the mother went insane just out of the blue from a medical condition, them i would feel bad for her and my family and i would try to help my family by making sure that we do all of the same family things that wee did before, just to have that sort of solid thing in our lives. However, if the mother was an alcoholic or hd some other sort of self-imposed brand of insanity, I would sort of be ashamed and disappointed in her. I would make it a lesson for my family ( mostly any younger siblings) that this is what will happen if you do that to yourself. If the insanity was always there and just sort of culminated in some big event( trying to kill someone or herself?) then I wouls be disappointed in myself and others that we hadn't seen anything coming and gotten her help sooner before it came to that. In any case, i would try to help any younger people i could to get through it by telling them the truth of what happened, and i would try to even get help for my self( because im sure it would be hard for me to handle as well) so that i would be strong enuogh to help the rest of the people in my family.
If I were in this situation, I have to admit, I'd be really scared...and slightly ashamed if it were as AF313 stated "a self-imposed insanity". I would try to fix my family by keeping everything in life regular. Going to out to sports events, having picnics, visiting family. I would of course visit my mother in this supposed "insane asylum" but not make a big deal about it. I wouldn't so much push it away and pretend it didn't exist, I'd just make it seem like it was something normal, even though inside I would probably be upset and freaked.
I would try to find some help. Surely there is at least one person who would be kind enough to help someone in such a situation as Chloe/Shana's. They could help with anything, everything counts. Also, as DanaK said, it would be a good idea to somewhat pretend nothing is wrong. That way, the mom wouldn't feel like she is messed up or that something is wrong with her, and maybe she'd get well sooner, so of like with placebo pills.
If I were in that situation, I would feel very scared. If my mother was insane and I had to take care of my sisters, I would be very stressed. I would try to fix my family because they are my life. Without my family I would feel very empty. Even though Heather's mother needs help, she still loves her like any other person loves their mother. I agree with Dana when she says that I would try to act normally. This would take some of the confusion and stress out of her life.
I agree with what alot of people are saying on here. If I were in this situation I would be a little scared, but at the same time strong (not physically; mentally). I would feel scared because my mom is in the hospital because she's insane. My mom in real life takes care of me and does everything that she can for me. So it's kind of hard to imagine life without my mother. All I know is that it would be tough. Thankfully, I would still have my sister (in this situation) to help me get through this, and i would do the same for her. I would need to be tough through this because my only family right now is my sister and my mom's in the hospital. It's not like there's a dad or someone else that can come to help us. It's just Chloe and Shana against the world. To fix my family, I wouldn't just go on as if life were normal because it's not. I would visit my mother everyday and see if she needs anything. It would kind of be like i'm the mother now and my mom is the daughter. I'd have to take care of her in every way that i can. I would also have to look out for my sister too and make sure she's ok. Hopefully, my mother can come out of the hospital soon & stop being insane so that life can go normally because like Kitty said, "That's a lot to put on anyone's shoulders, but a teenager's is a lot more insane".
That sounds kind of like what happens in Assassin's Creed 2. Ezio is living a fine life until suddenly his brothers and father are murdered. Ezio feels the need to kill those who plotted against his family through the help of relatives and family friends. Ezio did it to protect his family and the city of Florence, and although I would not go as far as to kill people, I would do what is necessary to keep my family going. Of course it will be hard but I'm sure I would get some help
I do not know what I would do with my self i don't think I would be able to put the family back together after what I went through. I would feel lost and hopeless with noone there to help me because I have to help them.
I agree with Kayla, I would have no idea what to do, without parents to support the family I would have no livelyhood, I would be a shell of a person that was alive on the outside, but I would have nothing on thte inside. There doesn't seem to be a way to fix my family, but I would try in every way to fix it, getting a job, or whatever it took.
I would probably be down a lot, having all of that responsibility on my shoudlers. I would try my hardest to do family outings, go places, and have FUN as a family. I might even try to find some way of income to support everyone, no matter the amount.
This post has generated a lot of strong discussion. Something to think about...after reading this book, is there anything about your life and how you deal with people and problems that you think you could change to prevent some of the difficulties in the novel?
If my mother went into the hospital and I had to fix my family I would be devastated. I wouldn't know what to do. I would try to make everyone go about their normals lives and stay on track. I would be worried for my mother and hope that she would pull through whatever she is going through. I would try to keep my siblings spirits up so that they don't get too worried about our mother.
i agree with ds11. i would try to help my family get through this, and help my mom get better. i woudl feel really upset too and try to make everyone happier, including myself. i think that chloe and shana have a lot of bravery having to deal with their mother.
SARAHMCCAULEY
If I was in this situation I would most likely be overwlemed with such excessive amounts of sorrow and guilt and sadness that my actions would probably not be accurate or the right thing to do. As other above me have said, I would WANT to get my mother out of the hopspital to her live her normal life again. I don't think that that is necessarily realistic though. She is in a hospital so that she is safe and the people around her are safe. The doctors are looking after her an din the end want the best for her. They are more often then not, not going to release my mother because I gave a puppydog face to the head nurse. Colin and Kayla were more realistic in how they explained that they would feel lonely and empty.
I agree with mrs.edwardcullen. it puts alo tof pressure on a teenager to have to deal with this, because they already go through alot everyday as it is. having to deal with a hospitolized mother is the last thing chloe and shana need. it would be hard to have to take control and be in charge of everything. between school, friends, and just growing up in general, this is the last thing a teenager needs. i would definatly feel alone because teenagers rely on their moms as someone as they can talk to. but if my mom was hospitolized, then i would feel i have no one to talk to.
if i was in that situation id mpstly likely feel sad, depressed, and stresed. its alot pressure to put on teeen. i wouldnt try to fix my family at all. theres really nothing much i could do id just try to deal with it the best i could.
If I was in this situation i would feel really depressed and I would try to unite the daughters to create a family like situation.
I would agree with Jewlz i would feel heartbroke, and be in lots of pain. I would also feel happy and trustworthy that my family has faith i can keep them together. I also agree with JamessK.
I agree with any one that says they would feel hurt, heart broken, depressed, any thing along the lines of being emotionally down or hurt. How would I keep the family together? Well this isn't an easy question. You could either shun or exile your mother out of your family, this would be painfull at first but in the long run I think that this is ultimately the best deciesion. If one did not have the will power to do the right thing and keep the family together this would be a final act of desperation.
Before I would do that though I would maybe try and find the reason why my mother was crazy and get her help. Counciling as a family could possible bring the family together back as one. But you never know if counceling could fix the problem entirely. This way iis the most practicle way to keep the family together for the time being but it may just be temporary
I find that getting rid of the mother would make the most sense, she has already brought emotional trouble to te family. There should be a divorce with the parents and the doughter should try and salvage whatever sort of relation ship they had with their origanal mother later. Don't get me wrong, this is a very heartless way to berid of this problem but in the long run the sister may have a better life and the mother should realize why the sister made the decision they made.
If i had to keep a family together in a time of crises i would cut out all of the excess, such as no after school activites, and no shopping and cutting back on things that arent a necssary. I would spend more quality time reviewing thing the family must do to succed in getting past the hardship. Keeping a family together would be very difficult, but im sure if someone needed to they would. It sounds like a very good book.
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